


Streets Of Love

by AliciasClarke (fyeahgila)



Category: The Rolling Stones
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - 1980s, Coming Out, Drama, Eventual Romance, HIV/AIDS Crisis, Homophobia, LGBTQ Themes, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-07
Updated: 2020-06-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:27:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24588298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fyeahgila/pseuds/AliciasClarke
Summary: Keith had never even thought about lads fancying other lads. At least not until his teenage nephew chooses to trust him enough to come out to him. Although Keith doesn't have the slightest clue how he could help him with that matter, he still tries his best to be supportive of his nephew...
Relationships: Mick Jagger/Keith Richards
Comments: 8
Kudos: 12





	Streets Of Love

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys,
> 
> uh, yeah this might come as a surprise since I didn't really plan on diving into a new story atm, because I am all caught up with my farm AU. But I literally had this prologue for this story just lying around in my drafts since June 2019, a whole year. And since it's Pride month again now, I thought it would be really really fitting and nice to at least already post that prologue.
> 
> As for now I'll put the story on finished but I'll expand it to a multi-chapter once I can continue working some more on it. 
> 
> It definitely will be cute and funny and romantic but also dramatic and sad (I mean you cannot write an authentic story featuring LGBT themes that's set in the 80s and not mention HIV/Aids...)...so that's why I thought "Streets of Love" as the title might fit since this song is really so so beautiful and so so sad at the same time and I love it so fucking much and I really wanted to write a story with this title...

London - 1985

Slightly annoyed, Keith switched off the telly. There was nothing worthwhile on anymore at that time of the night and he probably should go to bed. The next day, he'd have the early shift at the coffee shop he was working at, getting a good night's rest before surely wouldn't hurt.

He tossed the remote onto the coffee table and then picked himself up from his much too comfortable Chesterfield couch in order to shuffle over to the bathroom. Empty, tired eyes stared back at him from the mirror above the sink while he was brushing his teeth. He definitely needed a good round of sleep. However, just as he was rinsing his mouth, the doorbell rang. Completely startled, he almost swallowed the toothpaste-y water instead of spitting it out, wondering who on earth would come to his flat and ring his doorbell at a quarter after midnight. Grabbing his towel and cleaning off his mouth, he walked over to the entrance door of his flat, still confused, while the doorbell rang yet another time. A look through the spyhole astonished him even further. Outside on the house floor, in the stale light of the single lamp, was standing his fifteen year old nephew, Samuel, looking pale and frightened. 

"Sammy, what the hell are you doing here?", Keith asked by way of greeting after he'd all but pulled open the door to let the boy in. He was carrying a backpack and since he was only wearing a grey hoodie, he seemed to be quite cold. After all it was early October and fresh outside, especially at night. 

"I…I'm sorry...I didn't know where else to go...please don't be mad at me, Keith", he stammered in return, his voice breaking and Keith now could see the tears shining in his eyes. Also the fact that he didn't even try to complain about Keith calling him Sammy instead of Sam, like he usually did, showed him that whatever was going on, was actually serious. 

"Hey, mate...come on. Let's just...go to the kitchen and I'll make you a cup of tea or hot chocolate, alright?", he suggested instead of bellowing at him and rhetorically asking him what time he thought it was or why the hell he wasn't at home in his bed. Instead, he put a comforting hand on his shoulder and led him over to the kitchen. 

In Sam's current state, shaken up as he seemed, screaming and being angry at him probably would just do more harm. He had always been a gentle soul, always was a little too small for his age, and too quiet for his father's likes. Keith's ten years older brother, Jimmy, never got tired of complaining about his son only being stuck in his room all the time with his books, and drawings, and his guitar, instead of being outside, playing football or cricket. Keith was the one who'd taught him to play the guitar when Sam was only seven years old, who'd sometimes taken him along when he was jamming with his mates from the band. He'd bought him rock and blues records for his birthday or Christmas and showed him how to mix tapes. Sometimes, Sam felt more like a little brother to him than a nephew, that's how close they had grown through their mutual interests and also the fact that Keith was just about thirteen years older than him. He'd never been comfortable with being called "uncle Keith", like Jimmy did when Sam and his sister Sarah were still younger. It made him feel way older than he was and whenever he had been with Sam, teaching him the guitar, he'd insisted on him dropping the "uncle" part. During the last two years or so, Sam on the other hand, had gotten increasingly annoyed by Keith calling him Sammy, like he used to when he was a little boy. 

"Tea or hot chocolate?", Keith wanted to know, trying an encouraging smile, as Sam was just standing there, still with his backpack on his back. 

"Hot chocolate", Sam mumbled, almost absahed. His auburn hair was disheveled, he looked even tinier and younger than he usually did, and now in the light of the kitchen lamp, Keith could make out that his eyes were red and swollen from crying. Instead of putting milk on the stove, first he walked over to him, taking the bag off his back and made him take a seat at the small kitchen table. 

"Do your mum and dad know you're here?", he asked, even though he already knew the answer. It was quite obvious that Sam had run away. The boy only shook his head, looking like he might start crying again. 

"Please, don't tell them I'm here", he almost begged him, apparently quite frightened. 

"You know that I've gotta call them, right? They're probably worried crazy about you", Keith tried to remind him, but Sam only shrugged. 

"Okay...so how about I'm making that hot chocolate now. And then you'll tell me why you're not at home in your bed, where you belong, alright mate?", he suggested then and Sam gave him at least a tiny nod in reply. 

Keith busied himself with heating up milk on the stove and stirring pieces of chocolate into it, while silently glancing over at Sam every now and again. He appeared horribly lost and shaken up and Keith would have liked to simply demand of his nephew to tell him what that whole matter was about. But he knew from experience that getting loud and angry wouldn't help. It didn't help his own dad when Keith was a boy himself, he remembered just shutting down and not wanting to tell him anything at all. And it certainly didn't help Jimmy either, who in Keith's opinion, was way too harsh on Sam a lot of the time. 

A couple minutes passed in silence, before Keith filled the hot chocolate into two cups and brought them over to the table, setting one down in front of Sam. 

"Why did you come here, Sam?", Keith finally asked after another while. 

"I didn't know where else to go", the boy repeated sheepishly, not gazing at him but at his cup of hot chocolate instead. 

"But why did you run away?", he wanted to know and Sam sighed, not in annoyance, but in defeat.

"Cause they wanna send me away to some special school...", Sam offered in return. 

"What, why?", was all Keith could think of giving back, because that totally astounded him. 

"They think that uh...they can correct me there…", he murmured, cupping his mug with both hands as if to seek hold there. 

"Did you do drugs?", he immediately guessed, even though he couldn't imagine Sam ever doing anything that warranted sending him away to a school like that. 

"No...no it's not like that…", Sam meant and sounded somewhat frustrated. Keith still felt pretty relieved at that, though, what could be worse than doing drugs that would prompt his brother and sister-in-law to want to send away their son for correctional measures? 

"Then why do they want to send you away? Did you get some bad grades?", he inquired further, musing that probably Sam was at that age now where he was interested in anything but studying for school.

"No...my grades are alright. It's uh…", Sam started, but then cut himself off. "I...you gotta promise me not to be mad at me...and not to...hate me", he said and when he finally lifted his gaze a bit, Keith could see new tears in his eyes. 

"What did you do, Sam?", he quietly asked. 

"Nothing…", the boy returned, his lip quivering and for a moment, Keith thought Sam would start crying again. But instead, he took a sip of his hot chocolate. 

"What is going on then, mate? Come on, you know you can talk to me, right? I won't get upset, I promise. And why would I hate you? You know I love you, matey, right?", he tried to reassure his nephew and it weren't just empty phrases, he meant what he was saying. He actually loved him like the little brother he never had and had been there for him Sam's whole life. Even despite being just a teenage boy himself when Sam was born, and having completely other interests at the time, he still would end up baby-sitting because Jimmy had paid him for it. And Keith had needed the money to buy new records. There really wasn't a thing Keith could think of that could make him hate the boy, because he knew Sam was a good lad. 

"There is uhm...that bloke I know from school. He uh...his name's Ollie. And...he's...he's my best friend…", he finally started to open up. 

"Yeah, you mentioned him before. And what about Ollie?", Keith prompted him, nipping on his hot chocolate for the first time. He'd almost forgotten about it. 

"I like him…", Sam admitted, view directed at the cup in front of him again. 

"Well, of course you do, he's your best friend", Keith simply said without thinking further. 

"No, Keith...not like that", Sam meant, sighing anew. 

"What happened with Ollie?", Keith asked because he still didn't understand what all of this was about. 

"I...I told him...and then he...he got angry at me and he told his parents...and they called mine...and now they think…", he stuttered, tears rolling over his cheeks. 

"What did you tell him, Sam? What is going on?", Keith was starting to get somewhat worried, because Sam was drenched in tears by now. 

"I told him...I told him that I fancy him, okay? And now...now they all think I'm a queer…", Sam finally got out and started sobbing even harder, desperately trying to brush his tears away with his hand.

"Hey...hey, Sam…", Keith tried to calm him down, getting up to grab some tissues and then handed them to him, carefully placing a hand on his back, patting him lightly. 

He hadn't expected a confession like that in the slightest and he also didn't quite know how to handle it, because he'd never been confronted with this matter before. Of course he'd heard about queer people, there were more than enough reports on the news and the papers these days, about homosexuals dying of some disease they called Aids. But other than that, he knew nothing, he'd never personally met or talked to anyone before who was attracted to people of their same gender. That's why he didn't really know what to reply to Sam, other than trying to figure out a bit more about it first. 

"So you...you really fancy that boy, Ollie?", he wanted to know in a light tone, leaning down onto the table, while pressing Sam's shoulder encouragingly. Sam only gave a little nod in reply, blowing his nose and Keith patted his shoulder again to let him know it was okay. 

"Do you...do you think I'm a queer, Keith?", his nephew finally got out between sobs. 

"It doesn't matter, Sammy...you like whom you like, you can't choose that and I won't be mad at you or hate you for it, mate", he eventually said in an earnest tone, patting his back. 

Keith might not know anything about fancying another lad, but he knew very well from his own experience that one could neither choose nor force whom to fall for. He'd fallen for the wrong girl, or the right girl at the wrong time, had lost a friend by rejecting her and hurting her feelings because he didn't like her the way she liked him. So, he knew exactly that there wasn't really a way to influence one's feelings, and if Sam had feelings for another boy, then there was nothing that could be changed about that. The only way to handle it was to accept it and that's what Keith was planning to do. 

"But dad said...dad said in the bible they say…", Sam stammered, still wiping away his tears, before Keith disrupted him. 

"Sammy...did you or I ever care much about that? Your parents are a little too involved in their church thing...but just because the bible said something, it doesn't mean that what you're feeling is wrong", Keith assured him. 

Jimmy had oftentimes demanded from him not to spoil his boy by telling him it was alright not to be too religious, but Keith didn't care. When growing up, their parents had raised them somewhat religiously, going to church every now and again. But as soon as Keith started opposing, not wanting to go anymore, they let him be. Jimmy, however, had taken quite a like in it and had been an active member of his church community for many years. Sam on the other hand, had once admitted that even without Keith he wouldn't care too much about going to church or studying the bible like his parents wanted him to. 

"So...you...you don't think I need to go to that school for correction?", the boy asked and for the first time didn't sound dejected, but actually a little hopeful. 

"No, Sam...you're good, it's alright, mate", he assured him anew. "Is it...is it just Ollie you like or…I mean, do you fancy any girls as well?", he dared asking then because he honestly didn't know what else to say. 

Maybe it was just a little crush, maybe Ollie was a cool guy, or at least Sam thought he was. Maybe he wanted to be more like him and confused his admiration with adoration. And just because of that Keith didn't think the boy should be sent away. He shouldn't be sent away even if he fancied only blokes and not girls. There wasn't anything that could or should be changed about Sam, especially not with some weird and probably cruel treatment. 

"I...I never...I can't think of a girl I like...like that", Sam gave back after a moment, sounding quite embarrassed. 

"It's alright, mate. There's nothing to be ashamed of...I'm here for you, okay? No matter if you're fancying a bloke or a girl", he meant then because he was aware Sam needed to hear that. As he knew his brother and his wife, they probably had given Sam a rough time about it. And not to speak of the fact that his best friend, the boy he fancied, apparently didn't want to hear anything about it. No wonder Sam had showed up at his doorstep in the middle of the night, completely lost and helpless. 

"Thanks, Keith", Sam quietly mumbled, giving him a quick thankful look out of still teary eyes. 

"It's okay, Sam. I'm glad you came here and told me", he honestly replied, smiling at him in encouragement. He could only imagine how hard it must have been to come here and open up about it to him after already having been rejected by all the other people he loved and who should care about him. When thinking further about it, he actually felt anger rising up inside of him. Anger directed at his brother and sister-in-law for treating their son like that, for not supporting him and accepting him. But for wanting to re-educate him instead, for wanting to make him comply to their ideals. 

"Did you...did you ever fancy another lad?", Sam wanted to know after a while, blushing a little. 

They'd never talked about anything like that before. Sam had never mentioned a girl he thought was pretty or asked for advice on how to chat someone up. And Keith had never wanted to pry, had never asked him if there was someone he liked, because he knew how annoying it was and didn't want to be that adult. He wanted Sam to come to him and start that conversation if he was up for it and now he had. Completely differently, though, from what Keith could ever have imagined this to play out, but nevertheless he was happy that Sam trusted him with this. So obviously, he didn't intend to betray his trust by not taking him seriously or by wanting to change him. 

"No...not really", he truthfully gave back. 

To be honest, he hadn't even thought about this before. Not even about the possibility. He'd always fancied girls, since that day in primary school, when he was nine years old and Sophia, a new girl, came to his class. She was the prettiest girl he'd ever seen at that time with curly blonde hair and bright green eyes and she'd broken his heart when she just threw away the flowers he'd picked for her from his neighbours' garden. Since then, obviously, he'd grown up and had had a couple of girlfriends. The first real one when he was seventeen, and the last one he had left about three months ago because they'd not really fit together too well and had just ended up fighting all the time about the most ridiculous things. The fact that he could fall for a bloke had never even crossed his mind so far and he'd never met a man whom he intentionally found attractive. 

"So...how do you wanna know it's alright...cause I...I don't want to be like that...why can't I just fancy girls?"

"Sammy...I might not have a clue about this...and I'm sorry for not being able to help you out here any better...but...don't you think that when you love someone and they make you happy...then how can that be wrong?", Keith offered in reply since there really wasn't anything else he could come up with. 

"But I'm not...I'm not happy...Ollie hates me now...he doesn't talk to me anymore...and my parents hate me too...they can't stand me anymore and want to fix me...so maybe...maybe there's something wrong with me after all…", Sam meant, sounding defeated and Keith could clearly hear the tears in his voice.

"You don't need fixing Sam. There's nothing you can change about it. Look, we cannot choose whom we fall for, right? Remember my friend Kara? The one with the red hair", he tried a different approach in order to make him understand his point. 

"Your girlfriend?", Sam asked back. 

"No...no she wasn't...and that's the whole point", Keith meant. 

"Why?"

"Because...she liked me more than just a friend, but I didn't. I wanted to be her friend, not her boyfriend. But while she couldn't do anything about what she was feeling for me, I also couldn't change the way I felt about her. I couldn't make me fall for her and she found it too hard to just have me as her friend...so we ended up not being friends anymore", he explained, hoping Sam would understand. 

"Oh...she was nice...I thought she was your girlfriend…", he meant in surprise. 

"She wasn't. But...what I wanted to say is that...you can't change the way you're feeling about Ollie, or make yourself fancy girls. You can't force yourself to do that. So any school that promises that is promising bullshit." 

"Can you tell that to my mum and dad, please?", Sam asked almost hopefully and it made Keith grin a little. 

"I'll talk to them in the morning. We both should get some rest now, you can sleep on the couch", he said with a look at his watch. It was almost 2am. "Are you okay for now?", he added then, looking at his nephew carefully. 

"Thanks for not hating me, Keith", the boy meant, rubbing his tired eyes. 

"I could never...not for something like that", Keith meant, lightly pressing Sam's shoulder once more in support. 

"Can I ask you something else?"

"Go ahead", he prompted him. 

"What would you do if you fancied a bloke?"

"I...I don't know, Sam...I never did. I don't think I'm the right person to tell you that", Keith replied, quite a bit baffled since he really never considered that. 

"But you're the only one who...who's there for me", Sam sheepishly gave back, looking down at the kitchen table. 

"I know, and I will do that, Sam. No matter what. I just...cannot really give you advice on that…", he clarified. 

"Would you be alright with it, though?"

"What with?"

"If you fell for a lad?", Sam wanted to know. 

"Well...I guess if I really, really liked him...and he really liked me too…then I'd be alright with it, probably. Cause then there's nothing I could do about it, if I felt that way about him...and if he made me happy…", he mused even though he couldn't imagine meeting a man he'd find attractive and would fall for him. 

"So...it isn't about liking a guy or a girl, but about who makes you happy?", Sam asked in reply. 

"Yeah, that's all that matters. You shouldn't be with someone who doesn't make you happy", Keith advised him, thinking back of his last girlfriend and wondering how they'd even stayed together for half a year. In hindsight, it probably had been wasted time, but obviously, one only ever was smarter in hindsight. 

"Is that why you don't have a girlfriend right now?"

"Hmm?", he made, because he didn't know what Sam was on about. 

"Cause none of the girls you were with made you happy enough to stay with her?", Sam rephrased his question. 

"I...I guess, yeah. There was always something that didn't quite fit. Either I loved her too much, or I didn't love her enough…", Keith trailed off eventually because by now he really was getting too tired to lead a conversation like that. 

"Now, let's finally get some sleep, shall we?", he meant then, getting up in order to collect a blanket for Sam.

**Author's Note:**

> I will continue this. Maybe, after the farm AU, if you like ;)


End file.
